OLYMPIC CONNECTION

Sister city of BLACK MOUNTAIN to serve as mountain sports venue

4:29 PM,
Feb. 4, 2014

A general view over Krasnaya Polyana at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Resort near Sochi, Russia, 01 February 2014. The Olympic Winter Games 2014 in Sochi run from 07 to 23 February 2014. Photo by: Michael Kappeler/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

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In the heart of the Cold War, an unlikely relationship was formed between Black Mountain and a town in the Soviet Union, 40 miles east of Sochi, named Krasnaya Polyana.

The Black Mountain Pairing Project set out to develop a "sister city" bond with a small town in what was, at the time, communist Russia. In the fall of 1985, a letter from the mayor of Black Mountain, Michael Begley, and the board of alderman was signed by 100 Swannanoa Valley residents and sent to the secluded village located in the western Caucasus region of Russia.